Home Owner Thread

[Randolphkeys]

I am now secretary of my home owners association, and this might be the worst decision I've made in years.

The other residence saw the renovations I made and figured I'd make sense in the decision making body. Seemed reasonable. I just had to take notes in the monthly meetings.

Now I receive tons of emails everyday from cranky retirees, one of whom is litigious. I'm really hoping there is some kind of positive eventually for doing this.

 

[bob2the2nd]

I am now secretary of my home owners association, and this might be the worst decision I've made in years.

The other residence saw the renovations I made and figured I'd make sense in the decision making body. Seemed reasonable. I just had to take notes in the monthly meetings.

Now I receive tons of emails everyday from cranky retirees, one of whom is litigious. I'm really hoping there is some kind of positive eventually for doing this.

As the president of my HOA (and a sitting board member) my best advice is to give a listening ear but ultimately don't do anything, unless things get really bad.

I would say 70% of the people in my neighborhood would dissolve the HOA if we could (we can't). So basically I do the bare minimum. And if someone gets really frustrated I bring it back to them. "This is a small operation of volunteers and it sounds like you are very passionate about this subject. Any chance you would be interested in volunteering your time to help". In 3 years 1 person has volunteered.

Also as the secretary not really your job to respond to someone threatening law suits that's for your president and board to respond to.

 

[Randolphkeys]

As the president of my HOA (and a sitting board member) my best advice is to give a listening ear but ultimately don't do anything, unless things get really bad.

I would say 70% of the people in my neighborhood would dissolve the HOA if we could (we can't). So basically I do the bare minimum. And if someone gets really frustrated I bring it back to them. "This is a small operation of volunteers and it sounds like you are very passionate about this subject. Any chance you would be interested in volunteering your time to help". In 3 years 1 person has volunteered.

Also as the secretary not really your job to respond to someone threatening law suits that's for your president and board to respond to.

I was really hoping you would respond on this one, thank you.

I read the minutes of HOA meetings before I bought the place. Everything seemed healthy. The problem comes down to one retired woman - my next door neighbor - who wants the HOA to pay for a new subfloor above her condo. That might be from damage created by the neighbors above her, might just be wear and tear.

Everything else is in pretty good shape, just a lot of divorcees of a certain age who have bickered and fought over petty stuff since Melrose Place was popular.

 

[bob2the2nd]

I was really hoping you would respond on this one, thank you.

I read the minutes of HOA meetings before I bought the place. Everything seemed healthy. The problem comes down to one retired woman - my next door neighbor - who wants the HOA to pay for a new subfloor above her condo. That might be from damage created by the neighbors above her, might just be wear and tear.

Everything else is in pretty good shape, just a lot of divorcees of a certain age who have bickered and fought over petty stuff since Melrose Place was popular.

Im in single family neighborhood, so i dont deal with condo issues, but i dont see why its the HOA responsibility there. If she is claiming that the people above her damaged something, wouldnt that fall on them? If she wants to litigate wouldnt they be the ones she goes after?

When i met my wife the toilet of the condo above her leaked. Leaked to the point it destroyed the ceiling of my wife bathroom and would drip on her if she was on her toilet for too long i know super gross). Finally her landlord forced the owner of the other condo to actually fix the toilet. The HOA refused to get involved.

 

[Lee]

I am now secretary of my home owners association, and this might be the worst decision I've made in years.

The other residence saw the renovations I made and figured I'd make sense in the decision making body. Seemed reasonable. I just had to take notes in the monthly meetings.

Now I receive tons of emails everyday from cranky retirees, one of whom is litigious. I'm really hoping there is some kind of positive eventually for doing this.

I had a townhouse in scottsdale. I got in a huge fight with the association over a wall my neighbor ran into and damaged. They said i was responsible for the repairs although they repaid other walls without question in the past. I had my brother...who is a real estate lawyer in ohio...read ovr the CCR's and he agreed it was clear, but the HOA dug in their heals, behing the fucking asshole older than dirt President who ended up selling his home and moving int he middle and the board still wouldnt just pay for the wall.

I fucking hate HOAs, too much power and in general ran by morons. I wish i had someone like you on our board with inteligence and reasonable and would have faught to get the wall fixed. I shouldnt have had to pay for the repairs.

 

[WellYouNeednt]

I got incredibly lucky that my neighbor is on the HOA board or president (cannot remember). Probably one of the kindest human-beings i have ever met and is incredibly helpful. Went from living in apartments for 15 years in NYC (dealing with shitty management/supers) to my first home 2 years ago. In essence, he has been a like a mentor to me.

I can see both sides of the HOA coin and assume two things are massive contributors to your experience. 1.) who is on the board and his or her overall disposition to the community (incredibly obvious, i know). 2.) Age of the homes.

Again, i was really lucky that my neighbor is on the board and is incredibly generous with his ear/time. I am also lucky that these are new homes — mine was built in 2019, community ranges from 2019 up to today (still building) — so there have been 0 issues.

 

[WellYouNeednt]

@Randolphkeys

I work for one of the major US banks and i am in a small group that works exclusively with the AmLaw 200 law firms and the equity partners. I feel your pain on the litigious homeowner. Most attorneys (in my experience) are incredibly obnoxious and go 0-60 wicked fast on some of the smallest “issues”. Quick to throw around legal jargon/passive threats. Beyond annoying and almost childish, if you will.

 

[Randolphkeys]

Yeah, I appreciate the kind words @Lee. The rest of the association is hoping my even keeled approach - along with a younger professional in the vice president role - will lead to law presiding over emotion.

I saw the tension coming around August and tried to avoid joining this thing for a few months. Who wants to get involved when two sides are already lining up legal action, right? But I finally realized a functioning HOA run by smart people living here is preferable to a corporation running the HOA for us. They write themselves blank checks and raise dues when they see fit.

We still have two things going for us:

1. The HOA is financially healthy with a savings.

2. We have legal counsel lined up for more difficult decisions.

I don't want to flush the savings on legal fees, but I also believe my neighbor needs to let lawyers figure this out. She sees the savings and wants a chunk of it, in my opinion.

 

[Lee]

Yeah, I appreciate the kind words @Lee. The rest of the association is hoping my even keeled approach - along with a younger professional in the vice president role - will lead to law presiding over emotion.

I saw the tension coming around August and tried to avoid joining this thing for a few months. Who wants to get involved when two sides are already lining up legal action, right? But I finally realized a functioning HOA run by smart people living here is preferable to a corporation running the HOA for us. They write themselves blank checks and raise dues when they see fit.

We still have two things going for us:

1. The HOA is financially healthy with a savings.

2. We have legal counsel lined up for more difficult decisions.

I don't want to flush the savings on legal fees, but I also believe my neighbor needs to let lawyers figure this out. She sees the savings and wants a chunk of it, in my opinion.

They spent tons of money on legal fee's fighting us. I am in real estate, i know how to read real estate contracts, i got a police report when it happen to have the cops examine my car to show i didnt do it, thus it was the HOA's responsibility. It was insane, it wasnt so much damage that spending 2k on legal fee;s is worth avoiding fixing my fucking wall for $1k....not that i am bitter almost a decade later, lmaio

 

[Randolphkeys]

They spent tons of money on legal fee's fighting us. I am in real estate, i know how to read real estate contracts, i got a police report when it happen to have the cops examine my car to show i didnt do it, thus it was the HOA's responsibility. It was insane, it wasnt so much damage that spending 2k on legal fee;s is worth avoiding fixing my fucking wall for $1k....not that i am bitter almost a decade later, lmaio

Sorry you had to go through that. I gave the cliff's notes in this thread. From what I understand, my neighbor hasn't been shy asking the HOA to spend on her unit time after time. Repairs have already been done once. I don't think your situation is the exact same.

 

[inliner311]

So I was living in a townhouse when I was just out of college with a couple friends. I knew the type of neighbor we were in so we were never loud. We got a drop in from the HOA president about how they got complaints from neighbors because they could hear us talking when we had our windows open. We took it in stride and made sure we closed all the windows in the living room after like 8pm.

Then a month or two later, I get another drop in from the HOA president. She had her own complaint of us walking and quietly talking the 4 or 5 house from the street to our door. We weren't being loud enough to actually wake them, she admitted that but we were making enough noise to wake up their sensitive dog apparently. At that point I knew she was just like all the older folks in the neighborhood despite being a lot younger probably in her mid to late 30's.

In a regular neighborhood and normal people mind set, if you are getting woken up by your sensitive dog, you probably need to send your dog to a trainer. Not ask your neighbor to walk different a route or take different cars when going out.

 

[Randolphkeys]

So I was living in a townhouse when I was just out of college with a couple friends. I knew the type of neighbor we were in so we were never loud. We got a drop in from the HOA president about how they got complaints from neighbors because they could hear us talking when we had our windows open. We took it in stride and made sure we closed all the windows in the living room after like 8pm.

Then a month or two later, I get another drop in from the HOA president. She had her own complaint of us walking and quietly talking the 4 or 5 house from the street to our door. We weren't being loud enough to actually wake them, she admitted that but we were making enough noise to wake up their sensitive dog apparently. At that point I knew she was just like all the older folks in the neighborhood despite being a lot younger probably in her mid to late 30's.

In a regular neighborhood and normal people mind set, if you are getting woken up by your sensitive dog, you probably need to send your dog to a trainer. Not ask your neighbor to walk different route or take different cars when going out.

Oh, I had two reminders from the HOA to maintain a clean parking area. I noticed the guidelines for the parking area were too vague to be enforced, so I didn't rush to do anything. I have two young kids, sometimes *gasp* their toys are visible.

As it turns out, the complaints were all from the same angry neighbor who is suing them. Sometimes the HOA takes the blame for the dryest cunt on the block. Pardon my frankness.

 

[Chris]

All I know is this shit is expensive. In one year of home ownership I’ve replaced the fridge, oven/stove, installed new torsion system on the garage doors, redone the entire front yard landscaping (did this myself so was cheap), just got new windows and now a new HVAC system.

I’m sure I’m missing some stuff. Who knows what I’ll do in year 2.

 

[Lee]

All I know is this shit is expensive. In one year of home ownership I’ve replaced the fridge, oven/stove, installed new torsion system on the garage doors, redone the entire front yard landscaping (did this myself so was cheap), just got new windows and now a new HVAC system.

I’m sure I’m missing some stuff. Who knows what I’ll do in year 2.

Wait 10 years or so, I know it seems like a long payoff, but when your mortgage is $1500 a month Still (or lower when rates drop), rent will be like $2300 for a similar house.

Home ownership is the long game, not the short game. If you are living in your forever home, the equity doesnt really matter, the fact you will have lower housing payments and the ability to payoff your mortgage and live for insurance and taxes only is a beautiful thing.

Most proper financial plans begin with a paid off house. Some more advanced ones plan on keeping a mortgage and investing the savings, but either way home ownership is one of the main keys to financial independence.

 

[Chris]

Wait 10 years or so, I know it seems like a long payoff, but when your mortgage is $1500 a month Still (or lower when rates drop), rent will be like $2300 for a similar house.

Home ownership is the long game, not the short game. If you are living in your forever home, the equity doesnt really matter, the fact you will have lower housing payments and the ability to payoff your mortgage and live for insurance and taxes only is a beautiful thing.

Most proper financial plans begin with a paid off house. Some more advanced ones plan on keeping a mortgage and investing the savings, but either way home ownership is one of the main keys to financial independence.

Yeah. Only thing is I doubt this is our forever house. I can see us outgrowing it if/when we have another kid. So I’m kind of watching how much money we put into it and trying to be strategic about it, but reality is it’s my first house and I don’t know shit.

Still better than renting. Makes me sick thinking of the money I wasted renting over the years.